Color coded racquet grip

ABSTRACT

A color coded racquet grip comprising colored material panels for each bevel on a tennis racquet overgrip. The color coded overgrip of the present invention facilitates the location of the correct bevel for placing the base knuckle of the index finger and the heel of the hand to form a conventional hand grip to execute a stroke in the game of tennis. The color coded overgrip of the invention may be a standard wrap grip, a roll-on-grip, or other types of grips including a color coded base grip. The color coding of the types of grips can be accomplished using various colors, shades of colors, or designs.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to tennis racquet grips. More particularly, the invention relates to color coded grips and overgrips that function as a guide for the selection of the correct bevel for the hand grip of choice by the player in the game of tennis.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In the game of tennis, success in a player's performance depends not only in the choice of a racquet with the proper grip size handle, but also in the use of the correct hand grip when playing the game. The most popular and conventional hand grips are the Eastern Backhand grip, the Continental grip, the Eastern Forehand grip, the Semi-Western grip, and the Western grip. Finding a comfortable hand grip for particular strokes is achieved through trial and error by individual players whether they are beginners, intermediates, or advanced professional tennis players. However, certain hand grip types are necessary for success with particular strokes when playing the game.

The tennis racquet handle generally known as the grip of the racquet is shaped like an octagon consisting essentially of eight defined sides or panels called bevels. If a racquet is held with the racquet head strings facing perpendicular to the ground, the bevel on the grip facing up is bevel # 1. Moving clockwise around the grip, each subsequent panel to the right of bevel # 1 will be bevel # 2, bevel # 3, bevel # 4, bevel # 5, bevel # 6, bevel # 7, and bevel # 8. For a left-handed player, these bevels would be numbered counter clockwise in the same order.

The popular hand grips are formed by the specific placement of the hand over the racquet grip. Each hand grip is defined primarily by the placement of the base knuckle of the index finger and the heel of the hands over one of the bevels. For the Eastern Backhand grip, the player places the base knuckle of the index finger and the heel of the hand on bevel # 1, for the Continental grip, the placement of the knuckle of the index finger would be on bevel # 2, for the Eastern Forehand, the placement is on bevel # 3, for the Semi-Western grip on bevel # 4, and for the Western grip, bevel # 5.

The grip of the tennis racquet is generally covered with a layer of synthetic material bonded to an inner padded layer next to the raw handle. An overgrip is another layer of material placed over the grip layer and can be periodically replaced when soiled or may be placed as a permanent layer using a durable material such as leather. A standard overgrip consists of the concentric wrapping of a suitable material over the octagonal grip of the tennis racquet. In the case of a roll-on-overgrip, the overgrip is pre-constructed to fit over the grip like a glove.

Switching from one hand grip to another during a game is common practice among tennis players. When a player has to switch from one hand grip to another during a game, it is critical for him or her to be able to locate the exact bevel on the grip for that particular handgrip in order to execute an accurate and successful stroke. On those occasions, if the grip or overgrip is covered by a material of a single color or random design, the player would have to rely on the racquet head to find the correct hand grip by aligning the head to the desired bevel which might slow down his or her pace and the execution of the stroke.

There is a need in the art for base grips and overgrips that are color coded to assist the beginner, intermediate and advanced tennis players to easily locate each of the hand grip type bevels on the grip of a tennis racquet to efficiently and successfully execute the desired strokes while playing the game of tennis. The present invention fulfills the deficiency in the prior art by providing a color-coded overgrip that facilitates the recognition of the correct bevel for the hand grip of choice by the player.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is a color coded grip that functions as a guide to the bevels on the racquet grip to assist a player in choosing the correct bevel for the handgrip of their choice effortlessly and quickly to execute an efficient stroke.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the color coded grip is a standard overgrip constructed by placing panels of different colored materials on each of the eight bevels on the racquet grip. In this embodiment of the invention, bevel # 1 has a purple colored material panel placed on the entire length of the bevel, the colored panel on bevel # 2 is yellow, on bevel # 3 is red, on bevel # 4 is green, on bevel # 5 is orange, on bevel # 6 is green, on bevel # 7 is red, and on bevel # 8 is yellow. In this embodiment, the overgrip is color coded to correspond to each of the conventional hand grips. Bevel # 1 is color coded purple for the Eastern Backhand grip, bevels # 2 and # 8 are color coded yellow for the Continental grip, bevels # 3 and # 7 are color coded red for the Eastern Forehand grip, bevels # 4 and # 6 are color coded green for the Semi-Western Forehand grip, and bevel # 5 is color coded orange for the Western grip.

In this exemplary embodiment of the invention, a player who wishes to execute a stroke using the Eastern Forehand grip would line up the base knuckle of his or her index finger and the heel of the hand on the purple color coded bevel # 1 on the overgrip. When choosing the Continental grip, the player would place the base knuckle of his or her index finger on the yellow color coded bevels # 2 or # 8. Similarly, for the Eastern Forehand grip, the player would place the base knuckle of the index finger on the red color coded bevels # 3 or # 7, for the Semi-Western Forehand grip, the green color coded bevels # 4 and # 6 would be used to place the base knuckle of the player's index finger, and for the Western grip the orange color coded bevel # 5 would be the bevel of choice.

In other exemplary embodiments of the present invention, the color coding for the overgrip corresponding to the conventional hand grips may be interchanged as for instance in one embodiment, bevel # 1 for the Eastern Backhand grip may be color coded red or a shade of red instead of purple and the bevels relating to the other hand grips color coded using other colors or their shades. In some other exemplary embodiments, different designs may be used for color coding each bevel. In all these alternate embodiments, the player would be given information on the color codes and/or designs applicable to each bevel on the overgrip.

In yet another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the base grip itself is color coded with the bevels having different colors, shades of colors, or designs.

In yet another embodiment of the present invention, the color coded overgrip would be pre-constructed using different colored materials, shades of materials, or designs to correspond to each bevel and placed over the racquet grip as a roll-on-grip.

These and other features and advantages of the present invention will become obvious to one skilled in the art when viewed in conjunction with the ensuing description of the drawings, detailed description of the invention and the claims that follow.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an exploded view of the exemplary embodiment of a color coded overgrip showing the eight bevels in their respective colors.

FIG. 2 shows the exploded view of another embodiment of a color coded overgrip with alternate colors for the eight bevels.

FIG. 3 illustrates the palm of the hand with the positions of the base knuckle of the index finger and the heel of the hand used for wrapping the hand around the overgrip.

FIG. 4 is an illustration of the back of the hand showing the top of the index finger knuckle.

FIG. 5 illustrates the hand position used for a Continental grip on the overgrip of the present invention.

FIG. 6 illustrates the hand position used for the Eastern Forehand grip on the overgrip of the present invention.

FIG. 7 illustrates the hand position for the Semi-Western Forehand grip on the overgrip of the present invention.

FIG. 8 illustrates the hand position for the Western grip on the overgrip of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention overcomes a deficiency in the prior art for a color coded grip or overgrip for a tennis racquet. The color coded overgrip of the present invention helps the beginner, intermediate or advanced player in selecting the correct bevels on the racquet grip for placement of the base knuckle of the index finger and heel of the hand for each of the conventional hand grips including the Eastern Backhand grip, the Continental grip, the Eastern Forehand grip, the Semi-Western grip, and the Western grip to name a few.

Referring now to the figures, more particularly to FIG. 1 which shows an exploded view of the color coded overgrip 20 of an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. The overgrip may be a standard wrap grip with different colored material panels placed over the entire length of each of the eight bevels of the main octagonal racquet grip 10 or a roll-on-grip pre-constructed of different colored material panels corresponding to each of the eight bevels and placed over the grip 10 to fit like a glove. In the exemplary embodiment of the overgrip 20 of the invention, bevel # 1 is covered with a purple colored panel, bevels # 2 and # 8 are covered with yellow colored panels, bevels # 3 and # 7 are covered with red colored panels, bevels # 4 and # 6 are covered with green colored panels, and bevel # 5 is covered with an orange colored panel. In this embodiment, the purple color of the overgrip on bevel # 1 identifies that bevel for the placement of the base knuckle of the index finger and the heel of the hand on that colored bevel for the Eastern Backhand grip. The yellow colored overgrip on bevels # 2 and # 8 identify those bevels for the Continental grip, the red colored overgrip on bevels # 3 and # 7 identify those bevels for the Eastern Forehand grip, the green colored overgrip on bevels # 4 and # 6 identify those bevels for the Semi-Western Forehand grips, and the orange colored overgrip on bevel # 5 identifies that bevel for the Western grip.

FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the overgrip 20 of an alternate embodiment of the present invention where the colors for the bevels have been switched around and new colors added to illustrate the versatility of the overgrip 20 of the present invention in the use of different colors, shades and designs for each bevel without deviating from the specificity of each bevel for the corresponding conventional hand grip. In this embodiment of the overgrip 20 shown in FIG. 2, the purple colored panel for bevel # 1 is replaced by a red panel, by green panels for bevels # 2 and # 8, purple panels for bevels # 3 and # 7, yellow panels for bevels # 4 and # 6, and a blue panel for bevel # 5. In this embodiment, the red colored bevel # 1 would still be for the Eastern Backhand grip as the purple colored bevel # 1 was in the exemplary embodiment, the green colored bevels # 2 and # 8 would be for the Continental grip, the purple colored bevels # 3 and # 7 would be for the Eastern Forehand grip, the yellow colored bevels # 4 and # 6 would be for the Semi-Western Forehand grips, and the blue colored bevel # 5 for the Western grip.

FIG. 3 illustrates the positions of the base knuckle 30 of the index finger and the heel 50 on the palm of the hand which are used to wrap the hand around the overgrip 20. FIG. 4 illustrates the top 40 of the index finger knuckle.

FIG. 5 illustrates the hand grip for the Continental grip on overgrip 20 of the present invention showing the top 40 of the index finger knuckle corresponding to the base knuckle 30 of the index finger and the heel 50 of the hand over bevel # 2 and/or bevel # 8.

FIG. 6 illustrates the hand grip for the Eastern Forehand grip on overgrip 20 of the present invention showing the top 40 of the index finger knuckle corresponding to the base knuckle 30 of the index finger and the heel 50 of the hand over bevels # 3 and/or bevel # 7.

FIG. 7 illustrates the hand grip for the Semi-Western Forehand grip on the overgrip 20 of the present invention showing the top 40 of the index finger knuckle corresponding to the base knuckle 30 of the index finger and the heel 50 of the hand over bevel # 4 and or bevel # 6.

FIG. 8 illustrates the hand grip for the Western grip on the overgrip 20 of the present invention showing the top 40 of the index finger knuckle corresponding to the base knuckle 30 of the index finger and the heel 50 of the hand over bevel # 5.

The foregoing description of the present invention through its figures and preferred embodiments should not be construed to limit the scope of the invention. It should be understood and obvious to one skilled in the art that the embodiments of the invention thus described may be further modified without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the claims that follow. 

1. A color coded overgrip comprising: colored material panels placed over and attached to a tennis racquet grip surface to form the overgrip; said tennis racquet grip being substantially octagonal with eight bevels; said eight bevels covered with the said colored material panels through the entire length of each of the said eight bevels from the top of the said tennis racquet grip to the bottom of the said tennis racquet grip; and said eight bevels having different colored material panels.
 2. The color coded overgrip of claim 1 wherein each of the eight bevels on the tennis racquet grip are used to form conventional handgrips such as, Eastern Backhand grip, Continental grip, Eastern Forehand grip, Semi-Western Forehand grip, Western grip and other such grips known in the game of tennis.
 3. The color coded overgrip of claim 1 wherein the colored material panels covering the eight bevels facilitate the identification of the specific bevel for placing the base knuckle of the index finger and the heel of the hand when selecting the type of conventional hand grip to execute a stroke.
 4. The color coded overgrip of claim 1 wherein the colored material panels of each bevel can be changed to other colors for different embodiments of the overgrip.
 5. The color coded overgrip of claim 1 wherein the colored material panels may be of different colors, shades of color, or designs.
 6. The color coded overgrip of claim 1 wherein the overgrip can be a roll-on-grip constructed with colored material panels of different colors, shades of colors, or designs corresponding to each of the eight bevels and inserted over the racquet grip.
 7. The color coded overgrip of claim 1 wherein the overgrip can be a wrap around grip with colors, shades or, designs specific to each of the eight bevels.
 8. The color coded overgrip of claim 1 wherein the base grip itself may be color coded with colored material panels of different colors, shades, or designs corresponding to each of the eight bevels.
 9. A method of locating the correct bevel on an overgrip grip said overgrip comprising: colored material panels placed over and attached to a tennis racquet grip surface to form the overgrip; said tennis racquet grip being substantially octagonal with eight bevels; said eight bevels covered with the said colored material panels through the entire length of each of the said eight bevels from the top of the said tennis racquet grip to the bottom of said tennis racquet grip; and said eight bevels having different colored material panels.
 10. The method of claim 9 wherein the color coded overgrip may be a color coded base grip.
 11. The method of claim 9 wherein the color coded overgrip may be a roll-on-grip.
 12. A method of playing tennis comprising the steps of: locating the correct bevel for a conventional handgrip on a color coded overgrip or base grip; placing the base knuckle of the index finger and the heel of the hand on the selected bevel; and executing a stroke. 